Monday Metal in the Mail - Mastodon, Machine Head and Chickenfoot

For once, the stars aligned and the good old U.S. Mail brought me not one, not two but three new releases a full day early and I spent Monday evening in blissful listening mode soaking up Mastodon's The Hunter, Machine Head's Unto the Locust and Chickenfoot III.

Full-on reviews for each will follow this week as I give each a couple more spins to fully digest. Until then, in true Twitter fashion, first impressions in 140 characters or less:

Mastodon - The Hunter: Touches of The Sword and Queens of the Stone Age permeate a riff-heavy collection of songs tied together this time only by the gospel of rock.

Machine Head - Unto the Locust: All the signature elements are in place yet it never falls into "sounds like..." territory aside from, dammit, it sounds like Machine Head.

Chickenfoot - III: God damn, this is a band. Never knew Joe Satriani's middle name. Chickenfoot III makes it apparent: Joe Motherfuckin' Satriani.